Nadal def Soderling in Abu Dhabi in straights on hardcourt, not an official match, but with A LOT of money on the line. One of the best exibition matches I've ever seen. So Nadal has beat Soderling ON ALL SURFACES this year, in fact Robin only won one set in their three meetings this year.
And it's kinda hard to judge their matchup based on hardcourt since they have only met ONCE officialy on HC, in 2009 at WTF.

Didn't look like an exo to me, there was a lot of intensity in this match. Oddly enough, it kinda foreshadowed what would happen between them this year. Sod being close, but not close enough.

Nadal does not match up well with soderling on indoor surface but they have met ONCE, not exactly something we can go by to try to guess how they would do in a couple of matches.

Do you really think that "a lot of money" is a factor to these players and make them perform better? Nah. And what about indoors?
The exo in Abu Dhabi i dont even count, Yes, the FO-final was Nadal all the way and the Wimbledon match could have gone either way, remember Soderling led 5-0 in the first set and Nadal looked like he was shiting his pants and with Uncle Toni coaching him like a mad man.

Gee, and here I thought that they played for peanuts. Sure, it's not PRIMARY motivation when you are in the match, but it does matter in the end. It's one thing for someone to tell you that you will get a trophy at the end of an exo(which are used for practice before serious tournaments) and a small cash prize and another to know that you could win a quarter million dollars(just throwing a large sum out there as an example) from 1-2 matches as the nr. usually is in exo's.

.......

Colin

12-29-2011, 06:28 PM

Roger has always struck me as someone who never wants to lose no matter the situation. If he's still on fire after his year-end streak, he could do it in two. Otherwise, their matches are usually pretty close and I say he wins in three.

But I do agree there is some value to letting Nadal get beaten down by Djokovic rather than losing to Nadal himself. It's all about setting the stage for the tournaments that matter.

fed_rulz

12-29-2011, 06:30 PM

Unless Nadal is in it of course :). You had a lot to say about this very tournament in the past -

http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showpost.php?p=5011108&postcount=24

ROFL.. this is freakin hilarious!! you, my friend, get the "pwner of the month" award :)

nikdom

12-29-2011, 06:54 PM

---------------------------

SLD76

12-29-2011, 08:11 PM

They will screw around split the first two sets than play the third set with whimsical, overly aggressive play letting the chips fall where they may.

/thread. thats all folks.

cc0509

12-29-2011, 08:20 PM

Who gives a crap, it's a exo. :)

Right. Whoever wins tomorrow means nothing for the AO. Federer could defeat Djokovic 6-0, 6-0 in this exo and then Djokovic could go on to win easily in the AO.

tenniselbow1

12-29-2011, 08:48 PM

ROFL.. this is freakin hilarious!! you, my friend, get the "pwner of the month" award :)

:))))))))))

boojay

12-29-2011, 08:58 PM

Right. Whoever wins tomorrow means nothing for the AO. Federer could defeat Djokovic 6-0, 6-0 in this exo and then Djokovic could go on to win easily in the AO.

Actually, that's almost exactly what could happen. Didn't Murray own Djoker's *** just prior to the US Open then he went on to win the USO anyway?

A win for Fed would certainly be a confidence booster, but would have little to no bearing on the Aussie Open.

cc0509

12-29-2011, 09:10 PM

Actually, that's almost exactly what could happen. Didn't Murray own Djoker's *** just prior to the US Open then he went on to win the USO anyway?

A win for Fed would certainly be a confidence booster, but would have little to no bearing on the Aussie Open.

Yes, whatever happens tomorrow will have no relevance to the AO.
I have a feeling Fed and Djokovic will each win a set and then one of them will go on to win in a fairly close 3rd set.

Sentinel

12-29-2011, 09:38 PM

**** will win,unfortunately.
Wotz unforch about that. Yeah, he'll win. he'll allow Fred to take a set to make it look competitive, like 2-6 or 3-6 then get serious in the 3rd and blow Fred back to Geneva.

p.s. LOL at all the people who've put Fed in 2.

dudeski

12-29-2011, 09:44 PM

Unless Nadal is in it of course :). You had a lot to say about this very tournament in the past -

Unless Nadal is in it of course :). You had a lot to say about this very tournament in the past -

http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showpost.php?p=5011108&postcount=24

Hey, that's pretty good. Those posts are over a year old and you remember them. Well done.

monfed

12-29-2011, 10:23 PM

Unless Nadal is in it of course :). You had a lot to say about this very tournament in the past -

http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showpost.php?p=5011108&postcount=24

Uh oh BUSTED! :lol:

beast of mallorca

12-29-2011, 10:23 PM

Hey, that's pretty good. Those posts are over a year old and you remember them. Well done.

Nikdom is a fan of namelessone. He makes a track of Namelessone's posts.
Scary fanatic really.

tusharlovesrafa

12-29-2011, 10:40 PM

Nikdom is a fan of namelessone. He makes a track of Namelessone's posts.
Scary fanatic really.

Nikdoom and Namelessone are having an "AFFAIR"....:)

iriraz

12-29-2011, 10:45 PM

This exhos it`s all about fun and making a few bucks along the way.The result is meaningless.I remember one time when Roddick won a match at Kooyong vs Federer and all the journalists talked like it would be a big win and when they met at the AO,Roddick won 6 games.Win or lose both guys will get another match tomorrow.Too bad though that Djokovic didn`t sign in for Doha,it would have been a fun tourney with Federer,Nadal,Djokovic and Tsonga in it.

Mike Sams

12-29-2011, 10:49 PM

This exhos it`s all about fun and making a few bucks along the way.The result is meaningless.I remember one time when Roddick won a match at Kooyong vs Federer and all the journalists talked like it would be a big win and when they met at the AO,Roddick won 6 games.Win or lose both guys will get another match tomorrow.Too bad though that Djokovic didn`t sign in for Doha,it would have been a fun tourney with Federer,Nadal,Djokovic and Tsonga in it.

Winning Doha did what for Federer prior to the AO 2011? Almost losing to Simon in the second round?

iriraz

12-29-2011, 10:52 PM

Winning Doha did what for Federer prior to the AO 2011? Almost losing to Simon in the second round?

A win at Doha or not doesn`t mean a lot going to Australia.It`s a complete different tournament.The most important thing for these guys right now is play a few matches and get themselves in some form and hopefully their game will click at the AO.

namelessone

12-30-2011, 12:13 AM

Unless Nadal is in it of course :). You had a lot to say about this very tournament in the past -

Different context.

At that point, Nadal had lost to Soderling in RG and WTF(so quite fresh, not to mention the drubbing he got in WTF as a whole), a victory against a tormentor, however minor, was good for morale coming into 2010. Nadal was pretty low at this point in his career.

This situation is the opposite, Fed knows that he can beat Djoko 2.0, did in RG and was a point away from doing it again in USO. While Nadal was at a low at the time, Fed is on a postprime high, he won several tournaments this autumn and cleaned everybody's clock at the WTF and judging by Djoko's game in WTF, this would have been the case against him as well.

Exo's don't matter unless there is a personal stake in these matchups. Nadal needed to know that he can win a encounter with Sod after his bad 2009 and this match let him know it again(and the match didn't exactly look like a friendly).Fed doesn't need to know against Djoko since he was Djokovic's biggest threat in 2011 and is arguably the only player Djoko is scared of meeting right now.

I think both of them want to keep their cards hidden until AO.

niff

12-30-2011, 01:02 AM

Unless Nadal is in it of course :). You had a lot to say about this very tournament in the past -

http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showpost.php?p=5011108&postcount=24
Bwahah, that was beautiful.

aphex

12-30-2011, 01:29 AM

Unless Nadal is in it of course :). You had a lot to say about this very tournament in the past -

http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showpost.php?p=5011108&postcount=24

You sir win the internetz!!!
Lmao at the epic pwnage :)

Now you can expect a tldr diatribe by shamelessone trying to excuse himself:)

aphex

12-30-2011, 01:35 AM

I see it already happened...hahaha, poor shameless...:)

Sentinel

12-30-2011, 01:48 AM

Different context.

At that point, Nadal had lost to Soderling in RG and WTF(so quite fresh, not to mention the drubbing he got in WTF as a whole), a victory against a tormentor, however minor, was good for morale coming into 2010. Nadal was pretty low at this point in his career.

This situation is the opposite, Fed knows that he can beat Djoko 2.0, did in RG and was a point away from doing it again in USO. While Nadal was at a low at the time, Fed is on a postprime high, he won several tournaments this autumn and cleaned everybody's clock at the WTF and judging by Djoko's game in WTF, this would have been the case against him as well.

Exo's don't matter unless there is a personal stake in these matchups. Nadal needed to know that he can win a encounter with Sod after his bad 2009 and this match let him know it again(and the match didn't exactly look like a friendly).Fed doesn't need to know against Djoko since he was Djokovic's biggest threat in 2011 and is arguably the only player Djoko is scared of meeting right now.

I think both of them want to keep their cards hidden until AO.
Excellent response, dear nameless. Putting the *******s back in their place. VAMOS, bro !!!

But oh wait, what did my eye catch there ???

"Fred is on a post-prime high, and Nadal is in a peak-prime low" ???

Phew, tennis sure is a complicated game, I think we all should respectfully step aside and allow nameless and zagor to definitively decide, once and for all, who was on a high or low when and where, which year,season, month and even day (since sometimes we hear that Nadal was on a low in the final, but high in semi, Fred is always on some kind of high, etc).

joeri888

12-30-2011, 01:49 AM

I think Federer in 3. Djokovic and Federer will both want two matches under their belt.

Sentinel

12-30-2011, 01:50 AM

I see it already happened...hahaha, poor shameless...:)
How could you miss it !!!

Nadal at a low with one slam win, 2 major finals and countless other final appearances, and Fred at a high with no majors, and one or two wins when everyone else was tired/dead/buried/injured.

Phew, tennis sure is a complicated game, I think we all should respectfully step aside and allow nameless and zagor to definitively decide, once and for all, who was on a high or low when and where, which year,season, month and even day (since sometimes we hear that Nadal was on a low in the final, but high in semi, Fred is always on some kind of high, etc).

I doubt zagor and I can do it if people still comment on players that ended their careers 10-20 years ago. :)

namelessone

12-30-2011, 01:55 AM

How could you miss it !!!

Nadal at a low with one slam win, 2 major finals and countless other final appearances, and Fred at a high with no majors, and one or two wins when everyone else was tired/dead/buried/injured.

Wish i could smoke that stuff !

I'll pass the blunt shortly but at the time of Abu Dhabi 2010(since that's what we're talking about) Nadal had gone about 8 months without a title, messed up 2 slams in 2009 because of poor schedule management in regards to his injury and had just ended the WTF with 0-6 in sets. So in short, an awesome time for him. He didn't need that Soderling victory at all.

aphex

12-30-2011, 02:06 AM

I'll pass the blunt shortly but at the time of Abu Dhabi 2010(since that's what we're talking about) Nadal had gone about 8 months without a title, messed up 2 slams in 2009 because of poor schedule management in regards to his injury and had just ended the WTF with 0-6 in sets. So in short, an awesome time for him. He didn't need that Soderling victory at all.

But now, after getting pummelled 6 times by djoker he doesnt either :)
Only you shameless can come up with this stuff..please keep it up :)

Sentinel

12-30-2011, 02:24 AM

Aphex. have you heard of a poaster named newton296 (xxxxx@sbcglobal.net) ? She/he sent me this email:

What breed are you?

could it be the kind of "breed" that has "no life" ?

three words for you " get a life "And what's with all the double quotes. English is even tougher to figure out than tennis, I see.

niff

12-30-2011, 02:36 AM

Aphex. have you heard of a poaster named newton296 (nstubbs@sbcglobal.net) ? She/he sent me this email:
And what's with all the double quotes. English is even tougher to figure out than tennis, I see.
I needed a new email for when I sign up to spammy websites, thanks Sentilove!

beast of mallorca

12-30-2011, 02:39 AM

Aphex. have you heard of a poaster named newton296 (nstubbs@sbcglobal.net) ? She/he sent me this email:
And what's with all the double quotes. English is even tougher to figure out than tennis, I see.

Sorry Senti, it was me. But that was meant for Aphex, lol.

aphex

12-30-2011, 02:48 AM

Aphex. have you heard of a poaster named newton296 (nstubbs@sbcglobal.net) ? She/he sent me this email:
And what's with all the double quotes. English is even tougher to figure out than tennis, I see.

Its probably veroniquem trying to seduce you...
This is her flirty talk...

Sentinel

12-30-2011, 02:49 AM

I needed a new email for when I sign up to spammy websites, thanks Sentilove!

Sorry Senti, it was me. But that was meant for Aphex, lol.
Didden know aphex had so many usernames, lol !

Ack, newton was reacting to a poast of mine which he misinterpreted. My bad.

nikdom

12-30-2011, 04:19 PM

They will screw around split the first two sets than play the third set with whimsical, overly aggressive play letting the chips fall where they may.

One would have thought so. Apparently Djoko scrubbed Roger 6-2 6-1. Djoko wants to prove he is the real deal and start the year strong looks like!

DjokovicForTheWin

12-30-2011, 05:06 PM

I know it was exho but why did Fed lose so badly? Anyone watch the match?

Hood_Man

12-30-2011, 05:08 PM

Well I got my prediction very wrong :/

ThoughtCrime

12-30-2011, 05:09 PM

I know it was exho but why did Fed lose so badly? Anyone watch the match?

Djokovic hitting winners at will and Federer not giving too much of a *****, it appeared.

nikdom

12-30-2011, 05:13 PM

I know it was exho but why did Fed lose so badly? Anyone watch the match?

Roger says Djoko was just playing too well (http://www.tennis-x.com/xblog/2011-12-30/8470.php) and that he could not put up a better fight.

Nadal of course cried a river about his shoulder injury. The guy is really spooked by the prospect of having to face Novak again any time soon.

Tony48

12-30-2011, 05:16 PM

I know it was exho but why did Fed lose so badly? Anyone watch the match?

Djokovic was hitting winners from pretty much anywhere. He simply couldn't miss. It was crazy. He even went for some 2nd serve aces: one he made, and the other was unreturned. There was nothing Fed could do.

IMO, Djokovic didn't take the match to seriously and literally went into exhibition mode. "If it goes in, it goes in; if they don't, they don't." And 99% of them went in :)

Mainad

12-30-2011, 05:16 PM

Well I got my prediction very wrong :/

Me too. I really thought Roger would have been up for it after finishing 2011 so strongly. Evidently I was wrong. What a difference a few weeks can make! :shock:

Looks like Novak is back in the groove and has thrown down the gauntlet to the rest of the tour in 2012!

nikdom

12-30-2011, 05:19 PM

Me too. I really thought Roger would have been up for it after finishing 2011 so strongly. Evidently I was wrong. What a difference a few weeks can make! :shock:

Looks like Novak is back in the groove and has thrown down the gauntlet to the rest of the tour in 2012!

Don't know how seriously Roger took it, but I guess Novak wanted to send a message to the field and also all the observers who are saying he will lose the No.1 ranking.

They are being a little disrespectful to Novak to be honest. He has a lot to defend but saying Roger is going to be No.1 is a little bold.

Eternity

12-30-2011, 05:21 PM

Don't know how seriously Roger took it, but I guess Novak wanted to send a message to the field and also all the observers who are saying he will lose the No.1 ranking.

They are being a little disrespectful to Novak to be honest. He has a lot to defend but saying Roger is going to be No.1 is a little bold.

Does that even matter, Novak doesn't need to defend everything to stay no. 1.

Mike Sams

12-30-2011, 05:23 PM

If Djokovic's form is telling us anything, it indicates that it will take a titanic effort from any player to stop him in a best of 5 sets at the Australian Open which starts in just under 3 weeks from now.

nikdom

12-30-2011, 05:24 PM

Does that even matter, Novak doesn't need to defend everything to stay no. 1.

Exactly. I'm just stating what the popular reasoning seems to be to predict that he will necessarily lose his ranking.

Mike Sams

12-30-2011, 05:26 PM

So basically Djokovic's poor end to 2011 was merely him not giving a crap about the indoor season and now that he's fully rested, he will be in top form for 2012?
What about the shoulder injury he had?

adamX012

12-30-2011, 07:05 PM

OP, Federer will win the medal.

tusharlovesrafa

12-30-2011, 11:32 PM

Aphex. have you heard of a poaster named newton296 (xxxxx@sbcglobal.net) ? She/he sent me this email:
And what's with all the double quotes. English is even tougher to figure out than tennis, I see.

YOu made his e-mail id public,now that poor chap will have it from everyone.

This tournament has become a joke even for an exo, if they are going to half *** it out on court than they might as well make it entertaining with tricks shots playing different styles or doubles match between top four.

Nothing worse than watching players giving half effort and playing a boring style to boot.

The Hopman cup is more entertaining than the Abu Dhabi tankfest.

iriraz

12-31-2011, 02:28 AM

This tournament has become a joke even for an exo, if they are going to half *** it out on court than they might as well make it entertaining with tricks shots playing different styles or doubles match between top four.

Nothing worse than watching players giving half effort and playing a boring style to boot.

The Hopman cup is more entertaining than the Abu Dhabi tankfest.

The thing is players like Federer and Nadal aren`t giving a lot in this exho but they will play a competitive tournament next week in Doha so they will have time to improve while Djokovic or some players at Hopman Cup are only playing exhos without any real match practice so they have to take it more seriously.

Man those two are taking this season seriously. Roger forget any crumbs now....hehehe :)
Looks like Roger won't be doing Nadal any favors this year. It'll be Noel Ralph finals at the slams and a possible CYGS :D

Talker

12-31-2011, 07:04 AM

Though this was an EXO, Djokovic showed he wants everything he can get still.

It's a strong indication that the motivation part of the equation will not be a problem this coming year.

sureshs

12-31-2011, 03:40 PM

Federer is in big trouble this year.

nikdom

12-31-2011, 03:56 PM

Federer is in big trouble this year.

You mean Nadal. For Roger this is all icing on the cake. If he gets a slam, great, if not, no big deal. He's already at 16 slams. Djokovic will make sure Nadal gets nowhere near that figure.

Happy New Year :)

pound cat

12-31-2011, 04:05 PM

I think Nadal is fed up with tennis having accomplished all he wants and will retire in 2012 to play golf and soccer. He has played tennis for 20 years...enough is enough. (PS he will also get married this year.) That is my tennis prediction for 2012,

Happy Near Year to all who post here. And may your favourite player do well in the coming year.

pound cat

12-31-2011, 04:08 PM

Djokovic hammered at Ferrer's bh for the enitre match...and this stratedy worked. A lesson to be noted by all players..pick on the opponent's week side.